"Feel the force within you. Channel it. Use it to strengthen you. Do not be weak."

Damien took a deep breath and switched on his lightsaber. He was exhausted and his clothes were torn, but this battle wasn't over. "I am strong," he shouted furiously in return. He was surrounded by darkness now. Different obstacles had been coming at him from every corner, and he had torn them all down one by one, but now there was a sudden lull. He was afraid of relaxing due to inaction, but he kept his body tense and ready for the next obstacle.

"Why are you angry?"

"I'm angry!" he replied, having no response to his master's question.

"Use your anger, connect it with the force."

As if on cue, suddenly from his right two jedi sprung from his right. His red saber crashed into a blue one, creating sparks and emitting a familiar humming noise. He easily fenced back both of the jedi at the same time, cutting the first one in half at the waist and removing the second's head. "Is that all you have?" he shouted tauntingly, although he could feel his energy draining. "Give me more of a challenge this time!"

"Don't get too cocky, boy."

Another jedi came to his left, follow by three droids. He lifted his hand, immediately shattering the droid on the left, and then shoving the one on the right out of his way. From a distance, all he needed was to grip the jedi with the force, lifting him up by his throat, and choking him mercilessly until he breathed his last breath.

Six jedi charged from different angles. He took a deep breath and channeled the force as his master had said. Suddenly electricity erupted from him in all directions in a wide, twenty feet circle. All the jedi dropped dead and simultaneously disappeared.

"Do not depend only on the force. Those who cannot live without it are weak. Use your physical strength."

A group of four jedi charged at him from the front. Damien was breathing raggedly now. He found himself barely able to block their strikes let alone make his own. As he detained the first one, another lashed out a blue saber from behind him. He felt a searing pain on the back of his right leg, igniting his energy. The rage consumed him, and he stabbed the jedi in the throat, watching him fall slowly to the ground before turning and slicing the other two's limbs off.

"Looks like you're getting weaker, boy."

"Don't taunt me," Damien screamed. He felt as if he was going to explode. He needed something to kill, anything. He prepared his saber in his hand as a smaller figure stepped into the shadows. He felt his breathing slow, and his whole body relaxed. The anger was slowly sapped out of him as he stared into the old and tired eyes of his mother. Her skin was more weathered than it had been when he'd last seen her. "M—Mother?" he stammered.

"Damien, it's me!" She took a step forward and held out her arms, as if to hug him. He hesitated; it had been so long since his mother had held him. He wanted nothing more than to rush in to her arms and stay there, and forget about any battle or anger or the force. "Damien, are you alright? Come here I've missed you."

"I ordered you to kill every person you see in that arena," came his master's ominous voice. "Here is your weakness, young one."

"I have no weaknesses!" he shouted in return, heating up once again.

"You care. That is your weakness. If you are to be a great jedi, you cannot let emotions ever win."

"Do not taunt me!" he repeated slowly.

"Then kill her, or I'll come in there and finish you off myself."

Damien looked at his mother; he could see the fear in her eyes. Her hair was thin and her body was weak.

"Come boy, if you cannot kill your friend, then you will have no strength to kill your enemy. This is my true test, do not fail it."

"I never fail."

"Do it boy! Do not hesitate! Hesitation is your enemy."

He stepped forward, feeling his entire body drain of all the energy it had left. He suddenly felt dizzy, and the world began to spin around him. His mother reached out her hand to touch him but she could not. He fell to the ground in a heap, looking up to see his master walk into the arena and stab his mother in the chest with his double bladed saber. Damien felt empty and sick, and nearly unconscious.

"I knew that you were weak. Pity. You fight like a jedi but you act like a child."

Damien saw as his mother's skin exterior fell away to reveal a droid interior, and he felt foolish. All of these people were not real, how could he have hesitated so easily? They were either droids or holograms, specifically programmed to try and destroy him with whatever it took. His master stopped down to speak to him, their faces now unnaturally close. "I'm glad I could challenge you. Try a little harder next time."

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